Nine women's rights activists summoned to Evin Prosecutor's Office
Nine women's rights activists in Iran were summoned to Evin Prosecutor's Office this week.
Amir Raisian, the lawyer for the individuals summoned to the prosecution, told the official Iranian news agency that this week, a summons was sent by the Evin Prosecutor's Office to a number of women's activists, currently numbering nine and possibly more.
While the identities of those summoned to the prosecutor's office are still unknown, Raisian stated the reason for their summons as "to appear to provide some explanations," according to what was written in the summons, and said he had no further information about the matter at this time.
The Iranian state news agency has reported the summoning of women's rights activists to the prosecutor's office, while the arrests of human rights activists, women's rights activists, and lawyers in Iran have increased in recent months.
These include the arrest of Hoda Amid, a lawyer and women's rights activist, and Najmeh Vahedi, a senior sociology student and women's rights activist, on September 1. These two women's rights activists were recently released on bail.
Previously, the arrest of Payam Darfashan and Farrokh Forouzan, attorneys, by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence had been announced.
Also, Nasrin Sotoudeh, a lawyer and human rights activist who had represented many cases of civil society activists and political critics, including those protesting against the mandatory hijab, was arrested again in June of this year. She faced various charges in several cases, but in the case where she was accused of propaganda against the regime, she was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of espionage.
Following the arrest of Nasrin Sotoudeh, a spokesperson for the US State Department expressed concern about the arrest of this lawyer and human rights defender and called on Iranian authorities to release her and others who are imprisoned solely for expressing their views.
Previously, Amnesty International had considered the Iranian government's arbitrary arrest of human rights lawyers and women's rights activists in Iran as a sign of intensifying repression of civil society.
Source: Voice of America
